RAJAR Q3 2012: Round-up
BBC & Commercial
The latest RAJAR figures for Q3 2012 show total radio reach is down -1.1% YoY and -0.3% QoQ at just under 47 million. The 47 million listener mark was hit for the first time last year but this year’s quarterly releases of data have just come shy of that high.
All Radio weekly reach peaked last year at 47.6 million in Q2. The last four quarters of data have been very consistent for radio’s total reach – with levels recorded in a narrow band between 46.6 million and 46.8 million.
Year on year Commercial Radio’s reach was down more than the average for all radio at -1.7%. However, Commercial Radio performed better than the average on the quarter on quarter comparison (only -0.1%).
Commercial Radio’s reach is now 33.1 million – down over half a million year on year.The reach for BBC Radio is 34.7 million which is down -0.6% year on year but up +0.6% on the previous quarter.
National Stations
BBC 6 Music had a terrific set of results with weekly reach now over 1.6 million and recording a +31.8% YoY increase and +17.5% on the previous quarter.
Total Global Radio (UK) continues to head up the nationals and networks. The station has a weekly reach of 19.2 million listeners which is -3.1% down compared to last year and -0.6% compared to the previous period.
BBC Radio 2 remains the most listened to radio station despite a loss of -2.8% YoY and -3.8% QoQ. Radio 1 and Radio 4 (including 4 Extra) continue to be ranked in 2nd and 3rd place in terms of weekly reach. However, Radio 1 lost -5.5% YoY and Radio 4 (including 4 Extra) rose +3.1% YoY.
talkSPORT – a station hoping for an uplift from the ‘summer of sport’ – saw a +3.4% increase on the previous quarter to a reach of just over 3 million.
BBC Radio FIVE LIVE was the stellar performer in the breakfast sector; with increases no doubt helped by the BBC’s overall Olympic coverage. YoY reach was up +9.7% and +4.5% QoQ for FIVE LIVE.
Breakfast
Radio listeners in the UK continue to favour Chris Evans’ BBC Radio 2 breakfast show with a weekly reach of 8.5 million. However, the breakfast slot on Radio 2 saw a fall in reach of -4.5% on the previous quarter and -3.6% year on year.
The breakfast slot for Radio 1 reached 6.7 million listeners, down -6% YoY and -2.8% QoQ and BBC Radio 4’s Today programme reached 6.9 million and turned in positive comparative performances – up +2.6% YoY and +2.5% QoQ. This is the first time that Radio 4 has moved above Radio 1 in weekly reach.
The leading commercial station for breakfast remains Classic FM with a weekly reach of 1.6 million listeners.
London
Eleven of the seventeen radio stations in our analysis of London recorded a decline in weekly reach year on year and ten saw declines compared to the previous quarter.
Rising to the top from a year of being second is Magic 105.4. It now has a weekly reach of 2.2 million listeners – up +9.1% YoY and +11.4% QoQ. It has dislodged Capital London from the top for this quarter. Kiss 100 FM also recorded growth in reach compared to last year and the previous quarter.
The best performing station in London in terms of percentage growth was LBC News 1152. With a reach of 439,000 it has recorded an audience increase of +23.7% QoQ and +14.9% YoY.
Digital
Listening to radio via a digital platform in terms of weekly reach has increased by 5% year on year, with 23.9 million people now tuning in to radio via a digitally enabled receiver (DAB, DTV, internet) each week (up from 22.8 million in Q3 2011).
Digital listening hours for Q3 increased 6% from 304 million hours in Q3 2011 to 320 million hours this quarter. DAB radio is still the most popular device when it comes to listening to digital radio, accounting for 65.2% of all digital hours.